First post -- Trucks an 86 model that brought new. Has a total of 107K
motor, paint, interior have not been touched.

It ran good till about 5 years ago and AAMCO transmission talked
me into doing a "tune up on it". It was shifting fine but was starting
to leak around the gasket. WELL that was the end of a good
transmission. Have no idea what they did but it has a strange
shift pattern, no power (5.0 had none to start so when you loss
some it really has none). Anyway after a year of taking it back
to the shop, and other shops just gave up and parked it in the
garage.

Decided to put it back on the insurance & just drive it a little since
friends kept saying leaving it parked in the garage wasn't good.

I've had several SUV's and now have an Avalanche and vette but
still like driving the old el camino, its comfortable.

Its in pretty good shape, a few dings here and there since was
not a babied truck. Got the El Camino parts catelog so will start
ordering some of the minor trim pieces that aren't as new looking,
17 years guess won't complain too much. If asked about each
ding can say what caused it.

Found this forum while searching and looked like a good source for
information.

Welcome to the board El! Where bouts' in Tx?

Central

Round Rock here

About 30 mile south of Austin, "out in the rocks"

About 30 mile south of Austin, "out in the rocks"

Hmm, never heard of it. 8-)

Got the El Camino parts catelog so will start
ordering some of the minor trim pieces that aren't as new looking,
17 years guess won't complain too much. If asked about each
ding can say what caused it.

http://elcaminocentral.com/users/87ss/hallo.gif Glad you found us! Just remember we have discounts with various suppliers. Check the links!

Welcome to ECC! So, the desire to drive an El Camino again has got you motivated. That's a good thing. Take some pictures and let us see it.

Is it a 200-4r tranny? I hope the shifting problen wasn't just a misadjusted TV cable. I had that problem when I bought my 87. It would be in 4th gear by 25 MPH. And then the TCC solenoid would stick. :mad:


:mrgreen:

What really got me motivated is from another car that we let sit
too long without driving and so much had to be done that just
got rid of it. I didn't want this one to get in that shape.

As far as the Trans its a 4 speed overdrive. I've dug out the
work orders. It is listed as a 200 4R. It says they reconditioned
and exchange a torque converter, Hummm didn't know they
messed with the converter. Went back in they replaced
a Map Sensor, 3/4 switch. Took back again they replaced the
TCC switch. Next was repairing a manual lever. Final before
called it quits was replacing what the order says L/U solenoid
switches and adjusting a throttle cable.

Another victim of AA(beep beep)MCO. :mad: Anyway on a brighter side welcome to ECC! :D

Just remembered something else. It seems that throttle cable or
shift cable, been a while, but I do remember one of the techs
saying they took some parts off an old pontiac parinnesse (sp)
that was in an adjoining bay. When question the owner or
manager it was denied. So its a hard call since don't know
100% what was done. I would not recommend AAMCO to
anyone. They wanted to replace the computer but decided
no more work from them.

Move parts of this to transmission section

Welcome.

Good to hear that you found us and I am pretty sure that you'll like it here at ECC. Lots of good people and some good information as well as the availability for discounts on parts and tons of advise and comments.

Has anyone here ever been to an AAMCO transmisson shop and been impressed with their knowledge of transmissions or the cleanliness of their shop? You can probably get a trans and converter thru Summit or Jegs, put them in yourself, and spend less money.

The AAMCO shops are dis-organized. But so was the independents
I also took the truck too. Independents staff seemed more knowledgeable
The chevy dealers been very organized and clean.

When you don't work on your own truck its trial and error.

AAMCO sucks. COTTMAN sucks. They are both franchises that are usually managed by someone who doesn't know their ass from their elbow about transmissions. They'll hire anybody with a pulse to do their work. I deal with a local family run transmission shop that I trust.

:mrgreen: